General

As the globalization of the world intensifies and deepens, more and more products will be sourced from places other than the home country. The resulting opportunities for importers and exporters to engage in international trade will also become increasingly attractive. And one of the main reasons for the rapid development of this international trade is the emergence of the Internet and the use of e-commerce, because through this latest mode of operation, time, cost and effort have been greatly saved.

The same is true for China. As China becomes a full member of the WTO, the existing trade barriers will gradually disappear, and the price advantage and quality advantage of "Made in China" products will attract more buyers/importers from all over the world. Using traditional methods to engage in international trade is obviously far from meeting the needs of millions of Chinese exporters/suppliers to expand overseas markets, and at the same time, it cannot satisfy importers/buyers looking for products that meet their price, quality, packaging, delivery, etc. To meet the needs of Chinese suppliers, the use of e-commerce seems to have become a necessity.

However, the application of e-commerce to international trade is not the imaginary establishment of a company's website by a supplier, and importers/buyers all over the world can search for the supplier's products, and then send out inquiries, inquiries, request samples, etc. It's as simple as signing a contract, arranging shipments, receiving payments, and more. In the development of international trade, importers/buyers and exporters/suppliers have their own independent business purposes. Only when the goals of both sides are organically connected can trade be carried out. Similarly, the use of the Internet and e-commerce to optimize the international trade process must also connect the independent business purposes of importers/buyers and exporters/suppliers through the Internet, using new technical means, software, services and supporting processes to connect them to each other. connection, so that both parties can achieve their respective goals.

Generally speaking, importers/buyers want to be able to:

1) Find the most suitable supplier for the purchased product

2) Compare and evaluate the product features of different suppliers and the company's capabilities

3) Obtain the latest and most timely information from suppliers

4) Search the products you need to purchase in the fastest and easiest way through the product classification method recognized by the importer/buyer and the most common vocabulary in the industry.

On the exporter/supplier side, it is hoped that through e-commerce:

1) Get more inquiries about the company's products and develop these inquiries into new businesses

2) Establish and maintain your own brand in different geographic areas of the world

3) The latest company and product introduction can be presented to the importer/buyer at any time when they need it

4) Keep abreast of market conditions, development trends, importer/buyer needs, peer activities, etc.

Therefore, both exporters/suppliers and importers/buyers face challenges when using e-commerce for international trade. Exporters/suppliers must display their products and company introductions on the Internet as soon as possible; while importers/buyers must collect and edit supplier information into a common form for comparison. The completion of all this has extremely high technical requirements. When considering the combination of e-commerce and international trade, we must seriously consider how to organically combine and coordinate the purposes of importers/buyers and exporters/suppliers through e-commerce, taking into account the interests of importers/buyers. At the same time, it also provides a platform for suppliers to achieve their goals. Otherwise, the e-commerce platform that has spent a lot of manpower, material resources, financial resources and time to establish will be difficult to achieve the expected results.